JamesB's blog

Blender Workshop Updates

JamesB — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 13:33:42 +0000

This week the Blender Group finished the final touches to the tower. Previously the stabilisers had been created but they were not quite aligned properly. This involved stretching a face of each stabiliser plank to move and attach it to the tower legs.

After this the stabilisers were fully joined to the tower legs making it one full build. A material was created for the whole tower ready for the texture and a UV map was created. These are important steps to ensure that the texture which is created will cover the full surface of the tower seamlessly

After the summer break Blender group will start work on the tower texture.

Blender meets on Thursdays at 3pm.

More information can be found here: https://www.autus.org.uk/projects/blender_workshop

Solly's Newsletter for May!

JamesB — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:04:06 +0000

Once again thank you to Solly for her hard work creating Autus' newsletter - click the image to view in full!

Solly's First Newsletter of 2026

JamesB — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 13:36:01 +0000

Solly has made her first newsletter this year! Click to view in full!

We're Back! / Annual Review 24-25

JamesB — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 11:35:36 +0000

Happy New Year everyone! Additionally, Autus' annual review for 2024 through '25 is now available on the Annual Reports page!

Let's Catch Up!

JamesB — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:50:27 +0000

Autus at Night have been very busy over the last couple of weeks. They started with a "Let's Catch Up" session where everyone shared what they did in the Summer break. This was followed up by a discussion regarding unfinished grid projects and seasonal planning including holiday parties.

Lastly they discussed the next project they will tackle, which will be inspired from a previous Autus programme called "Keytech". This is where hot air balloons are used as markers in goal setting and moved along a race course to show progress.

This new project will be avatar sized hot air balloons over the rural areas on the north side of the community. Each team member will create their own and once they're made they will mark steps in goal setting and achieving with progress upward.

The plan so far is in it's initial stages as the team makes the decisions together of what will qualify as a completed step. Related goal steps like applying for a job, updating your CV or going on a job interview to earn points. For team members who are not ready for employment we will give other opportunities to earn goal points like contributing to your community or completing tasks on the grid.

We will of course, keep you updated on all the progress made!

Autus at Night is on Tuesday evenings from 7 - 10pm.

If you are interested in joining us. Please click on the following link:
https://www.autus.org.uk/projects/autus_at_night

Autus at Night is kindly funded by the National Lottery Community Fund
#TNLCommunityFund

The Autus Express

JamesB — Mon, 19 May 2025 11:12:31 +0000

Autus at Night and the Social Job Club worked on their Autus Express Train project recently.

The project is to simplify navigation through the community by placing train stations with info landmarks nearby to interesting spaces.

Currently there is one main train station on Digital Horizons and three hub stations. One is located between Shine Gallery and 3DTV. Another is in the garden center which houses the Goal Garden. The third is near our central lake and prisim.

The plan now is for one main station and five hub stations through the sims therefore two more hubs will be built. Each hub will be a duplicate which will reduce the work on the grid. The team also decided to create a ferry boat for access to our island sim, Games Resort. So a lot of hard work ahead to complete it - further updates of course will be posted here!

The project is coming along nicely as can be seen from the images below. It is fun for all who participate with each team member collaborating and contributing. A real team effort!

Images from the project can be seen below!

Autus at Night meets on Tuesdays at 7pm. Further information about this project can be found here!

https://www.autus.org.uk/projects/autus_at_night

Free Build February

JamesB — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:01:38 +0000

Some images from the Free build session from Autus at Night.
This week the Learners focussed on building food and tableware. This is in preparation for a virtual dinner party to be hosted at Kitty's House - more information on that will be available shortly.
For more information about Autus at Night please click here:
https://www.autus.org.uk/projects/autus_at_night

Christmas in Blender

JamesB — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 12:36:56 +0000

This week the Blender group made a texture for the Christmas Star! This involved a lot of texture nodes to create the foil like covering a star has. Then the lighting was added to make it all sparkling and shiny! Next week and our final week before the Christmas break we will bake the texture and upload the star to the grid. Can't wait to see how each star will look! Blender Group meets on a Wednesday at 3pm.

Further information can be found here! https://www.autus.org.uk/projects/blender_workshop

Teleportation 'Rail Network' to Come

JamesB — Thu, 02 May 2024 12:08:35 +0000

Autus and Autus at Night have been very busy lately and here is a longer report on what they have been getting up to!!

The Learners are working on a joint project to create a teleport system in the "community". There is going to be a train station on the sim which was previously home to Digital Horizons. This will include a depot and some train cars.

Inside the station there will be a destination board that will hold a notecard giver with teleport links. The depot build will be rezzed on whichever sims the team decides would be most useful.

Once the depots are in place the team will move onto the next phase which will include creating trails, roads or paths to lead from each depot to each destination, then create and implement signage to use throughout.

So far 3 depots have been decided which are marked on this community map image for you all to see!!

We look forward to posting more updates about this amazing project soon. The Social Job Club is kindly funded by the Wates Foundation. More information about this wonderful organisation can be found here:

https://www.watesfoundation.org.uk/

(Reporting kindly provided by Solly)

SJC 14th March

JamesB — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 14:22:46 +0000

Some further information on the Autus at Night and Social Job Club!!

This weeks March winner of Trivia was James W! Many congrats to him!! It was 30 questions on the subject of compter history (compiled by Rachael). He won a badge as the prize which had a lovely Shamrock celebrating March as St Patrick's Day

So far this year our winners have been:

January - Hadley

February - Nathen

March - James W

The next Trivia Night will be on Tuesday 16th April due to our Spring Break holidays

Everyone is excited to see if we have a new winner next month or will the earlier winners triumph again! Time will tell

The work on the Social Job Club's Boulevard continues to take pace and we look forward to see more of what the team achieve during the next month!

The Social Job Club is kindly funded by The Wates Foundation. More information about this wonderful organisation can be found here

https://www.watesfoundation.org.uk/